Gates Stays

It’s all but official now that Robert Gates will be staying on as secretary of defense after Obama takes office.:
[Senior adviser David] Axelrod said Obama enjoys and invites strong opinions and there will be no “potted plants” in his Cabinet. 
Gates has been negotiating with Obama emissaries over his deputies — some will be retained, and some [...]

Supply Issues

The US is trying to find new supply routes into Afghanistan because the Taliban and their friends are causing trouble for convoys on both sides of the Khyber Pass:
A week ago, a bold Taliban raid on a NATO supply convoy on the Pakistani side of the pass forced authorities to temporarily close traffic through Torkham [...]

Brainwashed

American Prospect offers a look at the development of counterinsurgency doctrine. Some of the analysis is highly debatable. One particularly interesting tidbit is that defense guru Edward Luttwak favors junking the Afghan war for reasons and in favor of a strategy I agree with:
“What the fuck are we doing there?” he asks. “Much better to [...]

Fighting Through

Michael Yon tells the tale of the British dam-construction convoy in Afghanistan. The stakes were pretty high:
This mission was one of the largest logistics operations during the entire war and certainly one of the most important civil affairs efforts.  Although it was top secret at the time, news of mission failure would quickly spread.  In [...]

Afghan Mission Doubts

The Times of London smells a rat in regard to the timing of the recent convoy battle:
[British commanders] understood that the plan was fraught with political and military problems at the highest levels. The knowledge left many Nato commanders wondering whether the lives of their men were being risked for the sake of little more than [...]

Rule, Britannia

The Telegraph reports that UK forces won a major battle in Afghanistan to deliver material to a hydro project. Interesting sidelight:
The Chinese-made turbine will be installed as part of a project funded by the American development agency USAID to increase the output of the Kajaki power plant.
Chinese engineers already on the ground will install the [...]

French Foreign Legion: Let the Afghans Do It

A French lieutenant colonel says Americans are shouldering too much of the counterinsurgency burden in Afghanistan and stunting the development of the Afghan army;
[US forces] generally make operational decision which, without the vigilance of the [Operational Mentoring and Liaison Teams] can sideline the ANA from the decision-making process; these then risk being turned into auxiliaries to the [...]